11 Tips to Get Fit at 40

By Jeanine Natale

When I turned 40 this past February, one of the pledges I made was to look and feel much better than I had at 39, or at 38, 37, or 36, for that matter. I'd become pudgy and very out of shape through a combination of a badly broken toe that stranded me on crutches for months, terrible eating habits, and, of course, no exercise other than stumping around on those sticks.

Even after I got off the crutches, it was several more months before I could really walk and move around normally again. Sick of how I was feeling and looking, I made up my mind that by the Big 4-0, I was going to be fabulous! Here are 11 tips that have helped get me to where I want to be.

1. Favorite sports, new activities. My big transformation happened over summer, which meant I got to surf free of my wetsuit! Even without the effort of struggling into a suit, it takes good overall fitness, especially solid core strength, to carry that longboard over long stretches of sand, paddle, and master the all-important pop-up maneuver. If surfing isn't your thing, think about the kinds of activities and workouts that you loved doing when you were younger, or perhaps always wanted to do and never got around to. And if you've got kids, take a look at the kinds of things they like to do for fun. Okay, maybe learning to skateboard at 40 isn't such a bright idea, but playing basketball or soccer are both great workouts, as are ballet and martial arts.
2. Solid workout. While trying new activities is always a thrill, it's also a good idea to have a solid, regular workout program for developing overall fitness. Programs like Power 90^®, Slim in 6^®, and Turbo Jam^® provide an excellent system to get yourself back in shape if you've let yourself go, so you can get back to those activities you love to do without the frustration of struggling to catch your breath in the middle of a game, when everyone else around you is raring to go. Then, too, the workouts are challenging—and fun—in their own right! Remember, you're as young as you feel, and as aging causes us to start losing muscle mass and bone density, getting back in shape doing something you love is a great way to fight back.
3. Take a hike and do some yoga. Getting back on my feet, I found that doing a daily low-impact walk was a great way to get rid of specific sore spots in my feet and knees from limping around on crutches. And warming up before and after any kind of walk or run is a good way to avoid undoing your efforts at exercise by just being stiff and sore for days after. There are several studies showing yoga to be one of the best stretch exercises around at any age, but especially for those of us 40 and over. Even my own mom and dad, who have NEVER been fitness buffs, have discovered yoga and stretching at the ages of 70 and 80 respectively. I've seen the positive changes especially in my dad, who suffers from osteoporosis, peripheral neuropathy, and now Parkinson's disease. My mom, recently recovered from a broken hip, makes a great yoga buddy for my dad, and as the two of them have been at it for the last 6 months, I see my dad up and taking walks now, and eating healthy (something he also never did before!). And my mom isn't limping anymore or getting stiff knees. They're smiling more, too. I took an informal poll, and I found that at least 85 percent of people I know over the age of 20 who are in good health and good shape do yoga on a regular basis.
4. Get a little color in those cheeks (but not too much!). Taking a walk on a sunny day is one way to do that. However, it is crucial to be safe and smart about it. That baking-sheet-style, lie-out-roasting tan isn't good for your skin at any age! Wear sunglasses with UV protection and carry sunscreen with you at all times when you are out in the sun. Apply it liberally and often! If you are working up a sweat, or you're walking on the beach splashing in the waves, sunscreen washes off—even the waterproof kind. Also, if you're taking a calcium supplement such as Beachbody's Core Cal-Mag™, a moderate amount of sunshine is one good way to get the vitamin D necessary to help your body absorb calcium. But I repeat, do NOT forget sunscreen!
5. Moisturize! No matter what time of year it is, I'm finding that my skin really is more sensitive to humidity levels, and dries out much more quickly. Do some research and find the products that are suited to your skin type—you'll be able to tell pretty quickly which lip balms and lotions are right for you—and use 'em! For summer especially, make sure they contain a strong enough sunscreen. Keep a little sample-size bottle in your car, another in your backpack or purse, and don't leave home without it!
6. Truly healthy juices, truly healthy shakes. And I mean serious juice—the kind with dark leafy greens, beets, ginger, carrots, etc. I do love my juicer. Why? Because it leaves all the fibery goodness in my cocktail and I can get a heaping plateful of summer-fresh fruits and veggies in one glass—I always replace at least one meal, if not two, with a big 16-ounce glass of juice. But if dealing with a juicer and prepping veggies and fruits sounds too time consuming to you, check out Shakeology^®, the Healthiest Meal of the Day^®. This is a new discovery for me, and it contains everything I love about my juices, plus so much more.
7. Vitamins, minerals, herbs, supplements. Feel free to explore the vast world of supplements, vitamins, and minerals. I tend to have a very sensitive stomach when it comes to taking the pill form of some vitamins and herbal remedies, but recently a 46-year-old friend of mine, who is an excellent massage therapist and yoga buff, made me a juice with the following supplements: echinacea, goldenseal, ginseng, gingko, biotin, spirulina, chlorella, blue-green algae, yerba santa, grapefruit seed extract, acidophilus, 5-HTP amino acid complex, and bee pollen. I washed down a handful of probably 20 pills and capsules with that juice, and was very pleasantly surprised that it gave me no trouble whatsoever and had me feeling good all day. Do your research and find the mix that works for you.
8. Be nice to your body—it needs you. Pulling all-nighters, eating junk food, and hunching over the computer for hours moving nothing but your fingertips: Ahhh, the good old days! If you still love doing this and you've been out of college for more than a decade, at least trade in the junk food for a healthier choice. And your body will thank you profusely if you just stand up every half hour to move around and stretch, even for a couple of minutes. In all honesty, recovering from those late nights—whether you're out partying or fervidly working on an important project—becomes much harder to do as our bodies age. If you have to be at work in the morning after a rough night, it shows up under your eyes, in your back, in your knees, in the heavy fog coating your brain—you get the picture. You can't always be on an optimal stress-free schedule, but being mindful of your body really does help.
9. Avoid late-night meals and midnight snacks. If you've been active on a beautiful long summer day, you'll be good and ready for bed. If you want the experience to be a restful one, avoid eating a heavy late-night meal. While there are many studies and opinions on the actual long-term health effects of this, the general consensus is that if you do eat just before bed, keep it light and simple. As Chris Idzikowski, Director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, says, "A heavy meal can sometimes lead to heartburn-type or reflux symptoms as you're lying down with a full stomach."
10. Get a good night's sleep. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleep needs change over a person's lifetime, and older adults may produce and secrete less melatonin, the hormone that promotes sleep. Being active during the day and getting enough exercise goes a long way to not only keeping you healthy, but leaving you feeling more relaxed and, well, ready for bed.
11. Be proactive and be proud of your active self! Whether you've always been in shape and are now beginning to feel the effects of aging, or were out of shape and reached 40 with more of a beginner's outlook on fitness, the fact that you are taking steps to get fit and get healthy both inside and outside is a major achievement that takes time, commitment, sweat, and effort. The payoffs are many, including less time feeling out of sorts and less time in the doctor’s office. With all the science and knowledge we have so readily available today, there's no reason to despair about old age. Age truly is just a number. In fact, a recent 2010 study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research showed that, overall, people aged 70 and older who had a positive mental attitude about aging and who were physically active reported feeling much younger than their years. Conversely, those who had a more negative attitude about getting older tended to be less active; and reported feeling at least their age, if not older; and reporting more health problems than the younger group did.

Way back when, a friend of mine commented that he just couldn't keep up like he used to on the volleyball court—that he was perhaps getting too old to do that sort of thing anymore. We were only 27 years old! It was probably the first time I had heard anyone my age mention something like that, and then—as now—I simply refused to accept it. Don't get me wrong, there is always the (unwelcome) possibility that some underlying health issue is a contributing factor, in which case serious medical attention must be sought. Fortunately, it wasn't so in this instance. But I remember being surprised by my friend's statement. He was in great shape—probably in better shape than I was—and at the time, I was riding at least 20 miles a day on my bike and was, indeed, quite healthy! Now at the ripe old age of 40, having "let myself go" only to make some much-needed and welcome improvements, I believe there's a lot to be said for being and feeling as young as you think you are, and there's no time like the present to be your best.

9 Foods Not to Give Your Kids

By Joe Wilkes

If you've followed the news on childhood obesity lately, you know the state of affairs is pretty grim. Childhood obesity rates have tripled over the past two decades, and most signs point to the next generation being the first whose life expectancy will be shorter than their parents'. Much of the blame for this trend has deservedly been laid at the feet of the producers and marketers of unhealthy food aimed at our youngest consumers, whose parents face an uphill battle: trying to pit fresh, healthy foods devoid of mascots or sidekicks against superheroes and cartoon animals in a struggle to tempt their children's palates and stomachs.

Since most kids have hummingbird metabolisms that adults can only envy, it's often easy to give them a free pass and let them eat whatever they want. But eventually those metabolisms slow down and the pounds settle in. Also, as physical activity decreases and processed food intake increases annually, kids aren't burning calories the way their parents might have when they were their age. And even if the kids aren't getting fat, they are establishing eating habits they'll take into adulthood. As parents, you can help foster a love for healthy eating and exercise that will last your kids a lifetime—hopefully a long one!

Eating can so often be a classic power struggle where kids try to finally locate their mom and dad's last nerve. (I can remember family dinners with my brother and parents that could teach Hezbollah a thing or two about standoffs.) There are a number of strategies you can use to mitigate this type of deadlock. One is to let your kids help with the selection and preparation of the food. If they picked out the veggies at the farmers' market and helped cook them, they might be less inclined to feed them to the family pet. Another is to frame eating vegetables and healthy food as being its own reward. Otherwise, by offering dessert as a reward for finishing vegetables, you create a system where unhealthy food is a treat and healthy food sucks. With these thoughts in mind, let's take a look at some of the most unhealthy foods being marketed to your kids today, and some healthier alternatives you can offer to replace each of them.

Note: The following recommendations are for school-aged children. Infants and toddlers have different specific nutritional needs, not addressed in this article.

1. Chicken nuggets/tenders. These popular kids' menu items are little nuggets of compressed fat, sodium, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and in some form chicken. Depending on the restaurant, chicken might not even be the first ingredient. Oftentimes, the nuggets or tenders are made of ground pieces of chicken meat and skin, pressed into a shape, flavored with HFCS and salt, and batter-fried in hydrogenated oil (the bad, trans-fatty stuff). Then, as if that weren't unhealthy enough, you dunk it in a HFCS- or mayonnaise-based sauce. With all the fat, salt, and sugar, it's easy to understand why they're tasty, but the nutritive value weighed against the huge amount of calories and fat consumed is incredibly lacking. Even healthier-sounding menu items can be deceiving, like McDonald's^® Premium Breast Strips (5 pieces), which pack 665 calories and 40 grams of fat—and that's before you factor in the dipping sauce. (By comparison, a Big Mac^® with sauce has 540 calories and 29 grams of fat.)

   Instead: If you're cooking at home, grill a chicken breast and cut it into dipping-size pieces either with a knife or, for extra fun, cookie cutters. Make a healthy dipping sauce from HFCS-free ketchup, marinara sauce, mustard, or yogurt. Let your kids help make the shapes or mix up the sauce. Try and go without breading, but if you must, try dipping the chicken breast in a beaten egg, and then rolling it in cornflake crumbs before you bake it. It'll be crunchy and delicious, but not as fatty.

2. Sugary cereal. I can remember as a child, after going to friends' houses for overnights and being treated to breakfast cereals with marshmallows that turned the milk fluorescent pink or blue, feeling horribly deprived when faced with the less colorful and sugary options served up in my home kitchen. But now I can appreciate my mom and her unpopular brans and granolas. True, they didn't have any cartoon characters on the box or any toy surprises, but they also didn't have the cups of sugar, grams of fat, and hundreds of empty calories that these Saturday-morning staples are loaded with.

   Instead: Read the labels and try to find cereal that's low in sugar and high in fiber and whole grains. Remember, "wheat" is not the same as "whole wheat." Also, avoid cereals (including some granolas) that have hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, or chemical preservatives. Add raisins, sliced bananas, berries, or other seasonal fruit to the cereal for extra flavor and nutrition. Again, letting your child help design a healthy bowl of cereal from choices you provide will get you a little more buy-in at the breakfast table.

3. Lunch meat and hot dogs. Kids love hot dogs, bologna, and other processed meats, but these are all full of potentially carcinogenic nitrates and nitrites, sodium, saturated fat, and artificial colors and fillers. A study in Los Angeles found that kids who ate 12 hot dogs a month had nine times the risk of developing leukemia.¹ And more health risks are being discovered all the time. Leaf through any research about kids' nutrition, and you're bound to read about the bane of the cafeteria—Oscar Mayer's Lunchables^®. These and similar prepackaged lunches are loaded with processed meats and crackers made with hydrogenated oils. These innocent-looking meals can boast fat counts of up to 38 grams. That's as much fat as a Burger King^® Whopper^® and more than half the recommended daily allowance of fat for an adult.

   Instead: Get unprocessed meats, like lean turkey breast, chicken, tuna, or roast beef. Use whole wheat bread for sandwiches; or if your kid's dying for Lunchables, fill a small plastic container with whole-grain, low-fat crackers, lean, unprocessed meat, and low-fat cheese. This can be another great time to get out the cookie cutters to make healthy sandwiches more fun. For hot dogs, read labels carefully. Turkey dogs are usually a good bet, but some are pumped up with a fair amount of chemicals and extra fat to disguise their fowl origins. Look for low levels of fat, low sodium, and a list of ingredients you recognize. There are some tasty veggie dogs on the market, although a good deal of trial and error may be involved for the choosy child.

4. Juice and juice-flavored drinks. Juice—what could be wrong with juice? While 100 percent juice is a good source of vitamin C, it doesn't have the fiber of whole fruit, and provides calories mostly from sugar and carbohydrates. Too much juice can lead to obesity and tooth decay, among other problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests 4 to 6 ounces of juice per day for kids under six, and 8 to 12 ounces for older kids. Juice drinks that aren't 100 percent juice are usually laced with artificial colors and that old standby, high fructose corn syrup, and should be avoided. Your best bet is to make your own juice from fresh, seasonal fruit. You won't have to worry about all the additives, and it's another way you can involve your kids in the cooking process. Let them design their own juice "cocktail." (And if you were even considering soda, see "Top 10 Reasons to Give Up Soda" in the Related Articles section below.)

   Instead: Water is still the best thirst quencher. Explain the importance of good hydration to your kids, and try to set a good example yourself by carrying around a healthy reusable hard plastic or stainless steel water bottle. Get your kids used to carrying a small bottle of water in their backpack or attached to their bike. If they're very water averse, try water with a splash of fruit juice in it. But just a splash. The idea is to get your kids used to not having things be overly sweet, overly salty, or overly fatty. Another great beverage is milk. Growing kids need plenty of milk (or fortified nondairy milks, like soy or almond)—which is filled with nutrients, calcium, and (in the case of dairy and soy) protein—but they don't need too much fat, so choosing low-fat or nonfat options will help ensure that they get their milk without actually beginning to resemble a cow.

5. French fries. High in calories, high in fat, and high in sodium—and unsurprisingly the most popular "vegetable" among kids. Fries offer virtually none of the nutrients found in broccoli, carrots, spinach, or other veggies not cooked up in a deep fryer, and the fat they're fried in is often trans fat, the unhealthiest kind for the heart. To top it all off, studies are beginning to show cancer-causing properties from acrylamide, a toxic substance that is created when starchy foods like potatoes are heated to extreme temperatures. In some tests, the amount of acrylamide in French fries was 300 to 600 times higher than the amount the EPA allows in a glass of water.²

   Instead: Vegetables like baby carrots, celery sticks, and other crudités are great options, but if potatoes must be had, there are some options that don't involve melting a brick of fat. A scooped-out potato skin with low-fat chili and a little cheese can provide lots of fiber and vitamins, with even higher amounts if the chili has beans. You can also try making baked fries, using slices of potato with a light brushing of olive oil. Or the classic baked potato could be a hit, with plain yogurt or cottage cheese instead of sour cream and butter.

6. Potato chips, Cheetos^®, Doritos^®, etc. These are full of fat, oftentimes saturated, and way more sodium than any child or adult should eat. Some chips also have the acrylamide problem discussed in #5, French fries, above. Also, watch out for innocent-seeming baked and low-fat chips that contain olestra or other fake fats and chemicals that could present health issues for kids.

   Instead: Kids gotta snack, and in fact, since their stomachs are smaller, they aren't usually able to go as long between meals as adults. Cut-up vegetables are the best thing if your kids want to get their crunch on, but air-popped popcorn and some baked chips are okay, too. You can control how much salt goes on the popcorn, or involve your child in experimenting with other toppings like red pepper, Parmesan cheese, or dried herbs. Try making your own trail mix with your kids. They might be more excited to eat their own personal blend, and that way you can avoid certain store-bought trail mixes, which sometimes contain ingredients like chocolate chips and marshmallows that aren't exactly on the healthy snack trail.

7. Fruit leather. Many of these gelatinous snacks like roll-ups or fruit bites contain just a trace amount of fruit, but lots of sugar or HFCS and bright artificial colors. Don't be misled by all the products that include the word "fruit" on their box. Real fruit is in the produce section, not the candy aisle.

   Instead: If your child doesn't show interest in fruit in its natural state, there are some ways you can make it more interesting without losing its nutritional value. For a healthy frozen treat, try filling ice-cube or frozen-pop trays with fruit juice or freezing grapes. Or buy unflavored gelatin and mix it with fruit juice and/or pieces of fruit to make gelatin treats without the added sugar and color (let it solidify in big flat casserole dishes or roasting pans—another good time for the cookie cutters!) Try serving some raisins, dried apricots, apples, peaches, or other dried fruits that might give you that chewy, leathery texture without the sugar.

8. Doughnuts. These little deep-fried gobs of joy are favorites for kids and adults alike, but they are full of fat and trans-fatty acids, and of course, sugar. Toaster pastries, muffins, and cinnamon buns aren't much better. The worst thing about doughnuts and these other pastries, aside from their nutritional content, is that they're often presented to children as acceptable breakfast choices. These delicious deadlies need to be categorized properly—as desserts, to be eaten very sparingly. And you can't have dessert for breakfast.

   Instead: Honestly, a slice of whole wheat toast spread with sugar-free fruit spread or peanut butter isn't going to get as many fans as a chocolate-filled Krispy Kreme^® doughnut, but at some point, you have to stand firm. Be the cop who doesn't like doughnuts. Doughnuts—not for breakfast. Period.

9. Pizza. In moderation, pizza can be a fairly decent choice. If you order the right toppings, you can get in most of your food groups. The problem comes with processed meats like pepperoni and sausage, which add fat and nitrates/nitrites (see #3, Lunch meat and hot dogs, above); and the overabundance of cheese, which will also provide more calories and fat than a child needs.

   Instead: Try making your own pizza with your kids. Use premade whole wheat crusts, or whole wheat tortillas, English muffins, or bread as a base. Then brush on HFCS-free sauce, and set up a workstation with healthy ingredients like diced chicken breast, sliced turkey dogs, and vegetables that each child can use to build his or her own pizza. Then sprinkle on a little cheese, bake, and serve. If your child gets used to eating pizza like this, delivery pizzas may seem unbearably greasy after awhile.

Someday your children will come to realize that caped men in tights and sponges who live under the sea might not have their best interests at heart when it comes to food. Until then, however, why not involve them in the process of selecting and preparing healthier alternatives? Some of these cleverly disguised wholesome foods might become their favorites. Who knows, they may even tempt some of the overgrown children among us!

• ¹Peters J, et al. "Processed meats and risk of childhood leukemia (California, USA)" Cancer Causes & Control 5: 195-202, 1994
• ²Tareke E, Rydberg P, Karlsson P, et al. "Analysis of acrylamide, a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs" J. of Agri and Food Chem. 2002;50:4988-5006

Diet, Exercise, and Your Kids' Grades

There's a lot more you can do for your kids' education than lock them in bulletproof SUVs and wait in smog-choked lines of other SUVs to drop them at the steps of their schools. Teaching proper eating habits and providing time for exercise will do more for your children's potential to excel than any other thing that you, as a parent, can do.

Unfortunately, you may not get support from your school in these matters. Lack of funding and programs such as the ill-named "No Child Left Behind" are making it more and more difficult for your kids to eat well and exercise properly at school, thus making your parenting decisions more vital than ever before.

Exercise. A growing body needs to exercise to develop properly. There's no science to dispute this, yet schools have begun to cut PE classes to minimal levels. Lack of exercise not only makes it harder for children to concentrate on classwork during the day but it is a leading cause in the childhood obesity epidemic that's sweeping the nation. "Over the last 25 years, caloric intake in toddlers and young kids has gone up three or four percent, but the level of physical activity has dropped nearly 20 percent to 25 percent," says Ken Reed, Director of the Center for the Advancement of Physical Education.

When I was in school, I had five recess periods, and my memories are of swarms of kids charging all over our exercise fields. In a survey of parents, I found that most kids have three or less periods of PE these days. Plus, it's becoming increasingly rare to walk to school, something that provided me and most of my classmates hours of random muscle-building, calorie-burning activity 5 days per week.

While there are plenty of studies that show the connection between physical fitness and academic performance, it's still a challenge for school administrators who feel they must focus on academics. One researcher, Dr. John Ratey of Harvard, does brain research on physical fitness and calls physical activity "Miracle-Gro for the brain." Despite this, it's still an uphill battle.

"The situation isn't good and it's getting worse," says Reed. "Physical activity levels have dropped dramatically in the last 25 years and we believe there's a direct link there to childhood obesity, as well as a dramatic increase in type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol levels in children. PE cuts are primarily due to budget problems in schools. Also, the focus is on the educational assessment test that almost every state has due to No Child Left Behind and other factors. The assessment test has become the scorecard for administrators and teachers. The focus is on reading, writing, and arithmetic. Parents are also picking up on the state assessment scores as their scorecards on how their school's doing, so they put more pressure on schools to focus on those academic areas. Something's got to give, and it's usually PE, music, and art classes." Beachbody® and Shaun T also knew they had to respond to this dire situation of cuts and lack of exercise through the creation of Shaun T's Fit Kids™ Club.

Diet. Fast Food Nation and Super Size MeThen there's your child's diet to consider, which most likely won't be improved at school. According to statistics cited in Eric Schlosser's book, Fast Food Nation, the worst-quality food goes to fast food restaurants, schools, and pets, in that order—a pretty scary thought when we consider that fast food restaurants and the school cafeteria make up a large percentage of what is forming the dietary pattern of our future generations.

It's easy to see the food/performance relationship among school kids. One example is Appleton Central Alternative High School in Appleton, Wisconsin; the school implemented a health food program in 1997 and saw a dramatic increase in student performance. By removing soda and candy machines and changing the cafeteria fare from the standard burgers, fries, etc., to salads, veggies, whole-grain breads, fresh water, and healthy recipes, they saw grades go up, truancies go down, and disciplinary matters nearly vanish.

Kids at Lunch"I don't want to say better than ever, because it's always worked," said Dean of Students Greg Bretthauer recently, "but we've made minor revisions, based on experience, to improve it. We've incorporated flaxseed and focused on the omega content of foods. Made fresh water even more available. We have monthly fruit smoothie days, and have really worked to incorporate more education about eating away from school—trying to get students to follow through at home. We've found that diet does play a major role in increasing the ability [of students] to concentrate."

Adds teacher Mary Bruyette, "If you've been guzzling Mountain Dew and eating chips and you're flying all over the place, I don't think you're going to pick up a whole lot in class. Now I don't have to deal with daily discipline issues; that just isn't a factor here." While there's little doubt that better food will increase scholastic performance, there's also little chance it's going to happen on a wide scale anytime soon. "Our district is so strapped for cash that all they can look at is the bottom line," states Reed Bartlett, a teacher in the Riverside, California, school district. So we get cheap, low-quality food, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

Weird science. It probably doesn't help that there's always a study out there for someone to fall back on and say things like, "See, it doesn't matter what the kids eat." Case in point: The infamous "sugar study" that came to the conclusion that diet played little to no role in children's behavior.

Kids in ClassSince I can say, with 100 percent certainty, that I've never had a client who wasn't affected by what they ate, I'm pretty sure not many people will disagree with me that food can alter the way you feel, which can alter your behavior. Yet, according to Steven Pliszka, MD, professor of psychiatry at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, "The biggest myth of all is that food has any connection to behavior." Say what?

And there's more where that came from. Wesley Burks, MD, professor and chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical Center states, "There haven't been any good scientific studies that show that there is an adverse effect on a child or adult's behavior chronically with the ingestion of foods." Perhaps not, but there's at least one school with thousands of real-world examples of diet playing a major role on behavior. In fact, the Appleton school tried an experiment where they served nothing but sugar-laced foods, caffeinated beverages, foods prepared with palm oils, etc., like "normal school kids get" and it had a significant effect. According to Bretthauer, "They ran around like hyped-up squirrels, felt sick, couldn't seem to concentrate. 'Pleeease,' they said. 'Don't have another one.'"

Scary science. Your kids are likely to live less time than you, which is one of the most alarming statistics I've seen recently, if not in my life. And that's the big-picture stuff. On a smaller scale, we see studies on the negative effects of many things associated with the daily lives of children.

Kids on a SlideKids are drawn to bright colors, so marketers love to change the way food looks—just look at any chain restaurant's kid menu for examples. Yet eating foods with artificial colors and preservatives can cause negative behavior changes in children, according to a study published in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood. And that's just one. In a review of two dozen scientific studies, the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) contends that food dyes and certain foods can adversely affect children's behavior. In a 32-page report titled "Diet, ADHD, and Behavior," CSPI charges that federal agencies, professional organizations, and the food industry ignore the growing evidence that diet affects behavior.

And with researchers out there like Mina Dulcan, MD, head of child and adolescent psychiatry at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, it's hard to argue. She states, "The bottom line is that too much artificial food stuff isn't good for you, but I don't think you can believe that it's going to hurt your child's behavior or learning very much." Yet, in order for her statement to make sense, we would have to conclude that nothing you eat makes any difference in how your body responds. We know this to be false, making this statement—from a prominently credentialed professional—unequivocal nonsense.

It makes a lot more sense to listen to Reed, who states, "The country's decline in fitness levels, of adults and children, is negatively impacting productivity. This generation of kids is the first in 100 years to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Fitness levels, as well as health issues like diabetes and high blood pressure, are much worse trend-wise than we've ever seen with teenagers and young children. The economic cost just in terms of health care costs is going to be dramatic. Then, when you factor in the loss in productivity, it's really going to be dramatic for our country if it's not turned around." What can you do?

Plenty. This isn't a red tape or lawmaker's issue. While those are factors, you are still the primary influence on your child's health. For one, make sure they have plenty of opportunities to exercise. The upside to the decline of PE is the availability of affordable extracurricular sporting activities. While your doctor may tell you that you can exist on 30 minutes of exercise three times per week, that ain't going to cut if for a healthy child. They need exercise and movement, and a lot of it.

Get 'em out there. "Even with the diets kids are getting in schools, if the kids were more active, they'd be better off," says Reed. But you're also a major contributor to your child's diet, which begins at home. If your school won't provide healthy meals, go on strike and utilize a lunch box. And remember that schools, both public and private, respond to public demand. As do politicians. Just because school menus are dismal and schools are cutting out PE and losing their funding doesn't mean this is the way of the future. If enough people demand that it changes, then it will.

Also, lobby government agencies and politicians. We live in a democracy. Take advantage of your rights.

"The Department of Health and Human Services should withdraw its printed and Internet documents that largely dismiss the effect of food ingredients on behavior. For starters, the FDA should halt distribution of a pamphlet on food additives that it co-published with an industry group, the International Food Information Council," said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of CSPI. "It's high time that the government—as well as doctors—provided the public with accurate information that might help many children."

The solution is for each one of us to keep trying. One person can—and always has—made a difference. Because one turns into two, which turns into three, and pretty soon you have an army on your side demanding change—take the Message Boards as an example of how unity can positively affect health and fitness. "If we could just get the soccer mom phenomenon working on physical education, we could rally parents and that would be a great advantage," says Reed.